Sunday, March 13, 2005

The title is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as no marketing department would entitle a TV channel as such. However, the idea is good: a tape loop of intriguing data visualizations, about big picture matters.

The subject matter might be geological i.e. the timeline might be relatively huge. Like, did you know there was likely an age of "mammals" prior to the age of dinosaurs? The evidence is compelling. Also: the comet or asteroid (I forget which) that wiped out the dinos likely hit in the Gulf of Mexico. The tsunami was huge.

Other times, the subjects'd be more contemporary/local, e.g. pictures of the global electrical grid (present and projected).

A purpose of this channel is to help humans unify around some common challenges. The carbon dioxide level is global. Just as weather reports help remind people of a local geography, perhaps a national or regional identity, so might a "statistics channel" remind people of Spaceship Earth, and our responsibilities as a species.